


Heartbeats

by Weevilo707



Series: Heartstrings [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble Collection, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, blupjeans baby ango, just that good family fluff, post-heartstrings oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-06-28 16:44:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15711246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weevilo707/pseuds/Weevilo707
Summary: They were a family again, it was almost weird to think about. After so long of being separated, after so long of most of them not even knowing they were family, they were finally together. It was good. Hell, it wasgreat.There was just bound to be a bit of an adjustment period.---A series of oneshots taking place after the events of the fic Heartstrings.





	1. Take Your Kid To Work Day

The thing is, Barry knew that things would be awkward. Of course they’d be awkward, they were all pretty new at this whole family thing, at least in a more traditional sense. Sure, shit didn’t have to be traditional, but him and Lup wanted to be  _ parents _ to Angus. They were still trying to figure out what all that meant though.

So of course things were going to be a little weird at first. They were going to be pretty weird for a long time if he had to guess. Angus wasn’t always comfortable with them, and hell, Barry wasn’t always comfortable either. He knew from experience how devastatingly intelligent Angus could be, but he was also still a kid.

And Barry hadn’t hung out with any  _ kids _ for a really long time, let alone his own kid. There were things he knew Angus enjoyed though, both from trying to slowly rebuild their family over the past many months, and from when he’d first met Angus again.

He loved magic, and he was quite competent at it. He’d already been brilliant during the day of story and song, and since then Lup and himself had joined Taako in teaching him what they knew. Barry couldn’t put into words how proud he was of him.

The other thing he knew Angus loved were mysteries.

Lup and him had both read those Caleb Cleveland books. They were a good way to have something to start conversations about with Angus. Plus, they were surprisingly good.

They had to keep them away from Taako, at least for now. Barry was trying to work on a way to reverse the magic those two liches in wonderland had used, but he hadn’t cracked it quite yet. He was sure it was only a matter of time though.

It wasn’t just mystery stories Angus liked though, and Barry was well aware of how far his kid was willing to go to chase a lead. It was something he tried not to think about too much if he was being honest with himself. Angus had never been in any danger going after him of course, but Barry knew he wasn’t the only mystery he’d ever chased. Taako had told him that when he first met Angus again, he’d been going after a serial killer.

So when one day Angus mentioned offhand that he wanted to get back into solving mysteries it was hard for Barry not to instantly start worrying.

He couldn’t really tell him no. Angus had been solving mysteries all the time when they weren’t around, and he was every bit capable of defending himself as most adults now.

But he still didn’t want his  _ kid _ going after  _ murderers _ and  _ kidnappers _ and who knows what else.

Or at least, he didn’t want Angus doing that where he couldn’t be there to protect him. He wasn’t sure if he’d want them coming along though. They were getting closer, and he was trying to be a good parent. He didn’t want to be like, overbearing or anything though.

On the other hand,  _ murderers. _

“You know, if you’re uh, if you’re looking for mysteries to solve and stuff maybe you could, um, come on a mission with me sometime?” Barry suggested. Angus’s head shot up from the spellbook he’d been going over as he’d lamented his lack of detective work lately.

“Wait, you mean one of your reaper missions?” he’d asked, and Barry nodded. He kind of wished Lup and Taako were here. They were having some twin bonding time. Last Barry heard they were clothes shopping, since Lup was back in her body and all.

“Yeah, one of those. Lup and I are still pretty new at it so there isn’t like a lot of tracking most of the time, but it’s important to figure out exactly what people are up to, and like, make sure to avoid traps and stuff,” he explained. If he took Angus on a mission with him he could be there to make sure he was okay, and it might scratch his detective itch.

“Really?! You mean that?” Angus asked, and okay he actually seemed pretty excited about this. Barry started to feel a bit more confident in his plan.

“Sure thing bud. I’ll have to make sure it’s not like, a super dangerous one, but yeah,” he said, and Angus was  _ beaming _ now.

“Thanks dad! I’ve always wanted to see the kind of things you guys do on your job!” he said, and Barry found himself smiling too. This was definitely a good idea if Angus was calling him dad.

About a week later Barry was getting a mission from the Raven Queen. Just him. They didn’t give solo missions to him and Lup very often yet, since they were still getting their reaper legs as it were. Still, Kravitz insisted the practice was good for them.

The lone missions were easier than the ones that required all three of them, of course.

It was the perfect type of mission to take Angus on.

Knocking on Angus’s door, Barry told himself that this was still probably a good idea. Normal parents took their kids to work all the time. Sure, his work wasn’t exactly normal, but Angus wasn’t a normal kid either, so it evened out.

“Oh, good afternoon, do you need something?” Angus asked when he opened the bedroom door. Barry told himself that Angus had this slight level of formality with everyone.

“Uh yeah, I was wondering if you were still interested in joining me on one of those reaper cases? Cause I just got one and-” he started to explain. Angus’s expression switched from mild curiosity to delighted excitement in an instant.

“Yes! Of course! When is the mission? Is it  _ now? _ Do we need to go get mom? Can uncle Taako come?” Angus started asking, and Barry laughed a little at that. Okay, he was definitely still excited.

“Yeah, it’s now, no, Lup’s not on this mission actually. It’ll just be the two of us if- if you’re cool with that,” he said, and Angus didn’t seem any less excited than he had before.

“That sounds great! Are we leaving right away? Do I have time to grab some things?” he asked, and Barry nodded.

“Course, get whatever you need, and uh, make sure you got your wand. It’s probably gonna be a little dangerous,” he said. Angus nodded, rushing back into his room. While he waited Barry manifested his scythe, running over the details the Raven Queen had implanted in him.

It should be simple enough. A single necromancer, he’d taken advantage of the unfortunate number of people who’d died during the day of story and song and was raising zombies to his hearts content.

“I’m ready!” Angus said, knocking Barry out of his thoughts. He had his wand on a lanyard around his neck, and was shoving a notebook into a bag he had slung across him.

“Okay, I want you to maybe hang back if you can, at least until I’ve killed the necromancer. You’ll probably have to defend yourself from a couple zombies though, so stay alert,” he explained, and Angus nodded.

“Sure thing! I promise I won’t get in the way of your work,” he said, and Barry smiled. Hoisting up his scythe, he locked onto the pulse of necromantic energy the Raven Queen had showed him before cutting a rip open in space.

Stepping through, he didn’t bother to turn skeletal or anything like that. Lup and Kravitz both preferred to when on the job, but Barry didn’t much care if his normal form wasn’t that intimidating to the necromancers. Plus, he had Angus with him, and he knew he’d seen much scarier things, but he still didn’t want to like, freak him out.

It was dark once they both stepped through the portal, and Barry realized that Angus could probably see better than he could right now. Maybe he could like, ask the Raven Queen for darkvision. He might have to wait until he actually died and his body was a full construct though.

They were in a cave, and Barry kind of wanted to roll his eyes at the stereotypical setting. He wasn’t one to talk though, he did live in a cave and grow bodies for like ten years. Caves were just really convenient for necromancy.

“Okay, he should be further into the cave system. Keep an eye out for traps,” Barry whispered, and Angus’s face was very serious as he nodded.

Heading further in, Barry could feel the way this whole place was dripping with necromantic energy. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to bring Angus to a place like this, he didn’t want him to get hurt after all. He could hear him walking as close to silently as he could behind him, and as long as Barry was in front he hopefully wouldn’t get caught up in any traps.

“Dad, watch out,” Angus hissed, and Barry stopped in his tracks. He might’ve been so caught up worrying about Angus that he wasn’t watching where he was going. When he looked though he couldn’t see anything. Angus stepped up next to him and pointed down at a small wire run across the floor of the cave, so thin and hidden in the dark it almost looked like spider silk.

“Nice catch,” Barry said, making sure to step over it, Angus following after him.

Once they were past that trap the tunnel kept going, and Barry wasn’t too surprised when they happened upon a chamber of zombies. They were positioned like sentinels and Barry made a motion for Angus to stay back. It’d be best to take as many of them out as possible at once, but he didn’t want to make too much noise and alert the necromancer that they were here yet.

“I think I can get most of them with a disintegrate spell. Could you try and pick off any of the ones on the edges before they can get away to alert anyone?” he asked Angus. It wouldn’t be a problem for him to get them all by himself, but this way was faster and he wanted Angus to feel included. He nodded, seeming to want to stay quiet given the circumstances, and Barry found himself feeling very proud again.

Giving Angus a moment to get into position, Barry pulled out his own wand. Counting down with his fingers, on three he sent a green beam of disintegration into the room. He saw Angus cast a moment afterwards, a flaming sphere circling through the room, plowing into the few remaining zombies. It was all over in about ten seconds, nothing but dust and a few smoldering corpses left once they were done.

Smiling down at Angus, Barry reached over and ruffled his hair. “Good job pumpkin,” he said, and the smile that Angus gave him at that definitely made this whole trip worth it already.

“Should we keep going?” he asked, and Barry nodded. Leading them both further into the cave, Barry could tell that they were getting close. There were a few more rooms with similar set ups of zombies, and the Raven Queen was right. This dude was seriously going overboard with the whole undead army thing.

He was pretty sure they reached the main room when they happened upon an entrance with a clear magic barrier cutting it off. It was hard to notice if you didn’t know what to look for, an almost imperceptible sheen of energy around the door.

“Okay, stay back here alright? The necromancer should be in this next room. As soon as I take care of him you can come in and help me make sure I don’t miss any research or necromantic artifacts he might be hiding,” he said.

“You got it dad,” Angus said, and Barry couldn’t fight back the smile on his face as he cast a powerful dispel magic on the ward. As soon as it was down he leapt into the room, and it seemed like their stealth had managed to work. The necromancer spun around, clearly caught off guard as he shot off a panicked spell.

Barry was able to dodge it without much difficulty. Unfortunately the necromancer was able to resist the hold person he tried to cast on him, which would’ve made this whole thing done in a manner of seconds. There was a quick flurry of spells shot between them, and this dude was a bit better than he’d expected. He’d managed to land a shot onto Barry, although it clearly didn’t do the damage he’d been expecting.

Kinda hard to hurt an aspect of death and former lich with necrotic energy after all.

He just needed to get close enough to this guy to get his scythe into him. Barry wasn’t the most graceful with this thing yet though, and this dude was squirrelly.

“Dad, back up!” Angus’s voice shouted behind him. Without thinking twice Barry complied, leaping back and away from the necromancer. There was a flash of hypnotic swirling lights around him for a moment, and then it disappeared. The necromancer was left standing in place, completely stupefied. Rushing back across the room, Barry managed to rip the soul from him with ease. Once it was done the body slumped to the floor and Barry turned back to Angus, who was still standing in the doorway.

“Who taught you hypnotic pattern?” Barry asked.

“Mom, she said Mr. Davenport does it better than her, but it still works,” Angus explained. Barry nodded, he couldn’t argue with that.

“You know, I told you to stay back until I finished,” he said, and he couldn’t quite get himself to sound mad.

“Yeah, but he managed to hit you and I was worried you were gonna get hurt,” Angus said, concern clear on his face. Any attempt at even mild annoyance Barry was trying to manage fell away. Fuck, how did he get such a good kid?

“I would’ve been fine kiddo,” Barry told him, heading back over to Angus and ruffling his hair again. “But thanks a lot, that was real impressive. Made my job a hell of a lot easier,” he said, and Angus’s frown shifted back into a proud smile.

“Does that mean I can come with you on more missions?” he asked, and Barry laughed.

“Maybe. How about we finish up here before we figure all that out, okay?” he asked, and Angus nodded. As he started going through the necromancer’s worktable it was obvious how much he enjoyed this stuff.

Barry was letting him go through that while he dispelled any of the remaining wards and such.

He didn’t expect the telltale sound of a reaper scythe ripping open a portal into the room.

“Barry? The Raven Queen said she sent you on a mission here and I was just checking in to make sure you weren't stealing the- that everything went okay,” Kravitz said. Barry spun back around towards him, and hey, this time he  _ didn’t _ have an illegal necromantic tomb in his hands.

“Hello sir!” Angus said happily, popping up from behind the necromancer’s desk. He had cobwebs in his hair and was holding what looked like some sort of cursed amulet.

“I- hello Angus,” Kravitz said, staring at the boy a moment before turning back towards Barry. “Barry. What is Angus doing here?” he asked, his voice a very obvious fake calm.

“We were doing a sort of take your kid to work day thing?” he asked more than said.

“I helped kill the necromancer!” Angus announced proudly, walking over and handing Barry the probably cursed amulet without any sort of explanation.

“You let him  _ fight?”  _ Kravitz asked, sounding incredulous.

“Not really? But he did anyway. Besides he fought like, the hunger, and he did really good,” Barry said. Kravitz looked at a loss for words and Barry couldn’t entirely blame him for that.

“I’m telling Lup and Taako when we get back,” he said finally.

“That’s fair,” Barry admitted.

“Aw, does that mean I’m not gonna be allowed on missions with you anymore?” Angus asked, and Barry shrugged.

“I mean I wouldn’t say that for certain,” he said, although yeah he doubted Taako and Lup would be super happy about this. 

“Barry I will tell the Raven Queen too,” Kravitz insisted.

“Alright, but know if you get banned, it was Uncle Kravitz’s fault, not mine,” Barry said.

“Don’t put that on me! Anyway are you two done here?” Kravitz asked, and they both nodded.

“Yeah, we’re good. Come on Ango let’s drop you off at home before I get dragged into a lecture,” Barry said. He guessed Kravitz had a point about not bringing Angus on such dangerous missions, but he’d done so well. Barry couldn’t help but be proud and impressed, even though he already knew how talented his son was.

The check in with the Raven Queen had gone pretty fast all things considered. Kravitz didn’t actually tell her about Angus coming along, but Barry got the feeling he was going to use that as a last resort to hold over his head.

He might not need it with the response he got when he got back home though.

“You took our kid on a reaper mission!?” Lup shouted.

“I told her it was fine!” Angus insisted, sitting on the living room couch and pouting.

“It was take your kid to work day?” Barry tried.

“I repeat, you took our kid on a reaper mission,  _ without me?” _ Lup said, and at that Barry burst out laughing. He wasn’t even surprised that was Lup’s problem. He should’ve known that from the beginning.

“You’re all  _ fucking disasters!” _ Taako shouted, shoving his face into a pillow afterwards. Honestly, Barry couldn’t argue with that.

He wouldn’t change it either though. They might not really get how to be a normal family yet, but he was starting to think that was okay. They didn’t need normal, it wasn’t something Barry had ever strove for before.

He was more than happy with his disaster of a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just couldn't stay away from this universe. i've been wanting to do some post-heartstrings oneshots for a while, and i finally got the chance/motivation to. i just love this little family so much and they're all disasters. I wanted to get something up for the taziversary and coming back to heartstrings, my first ever taz fic, felt right. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and i hope you enjoyed~


	2. Pumpkin-Daze

Taako still wasn’t sure if he was doing this whole uncle thing right. It was strange enough remembering that he had  _ any _ family that actually mattered, let alone like, a lot. Having a nephew was still a weird thing to get used to back when he was still just a baby. It wasn’t even in the realm of possibilities in his head for the last decade.

The fact that he’d kinda ended up taking care of the kid anyway was a weird one to think about sometimes. Plus, he hadn’t exactly done a great job of it.

For some reason though Angus cared about him, and their relationship hadn’t changed  _ that _ much for all the revelations involved.

Taako would deny it, but he’d already kinda been in an uncle position for the kid.

Of course, that didn’t change the fact that he was still pretty objectively  _ bad _ at this. And fuck, he actually wanted to get better at it. Angus has been spending a lot more time with Lup and Barry lately, which was good. Kid deserved to actually be able to spend time with his parents, and fuck knows Lup and Barry deserved getting to see their kid after all the bullshit they went through.

Taako wasn’t against that, Taako was very much  _ for _ the three of them being like, a family again.

He just, you know, didn’t want Angus to feel like he didn’t need his original magic teacher and best dude anymore.

So it might not be Taako’s normal style, but hey it was a holiday. No reason not to do some seasonal prep shit with his nephew while his parents were out on a reaper mission. Kravitz had been complaining that they were always so busy this time of year. Necromancers and death criminals apparently liked the spooky fall aesthetic too he supposed.

The only thing left to do was see if Angus was, you know, actually into doing this kinda stuff.

“How’s it hanging munchkin?” Taako asked, leaning over the back of the couch to get a better look at what Angus was doing. Kid was huddled up with some book. Taako wasn’t able to do anymore than glance at it before he became uninterested, and Angus slapped the book shut with a start before shoving it under a small stack of other books beside him.

“Oh! Taako, I uh, I didn’t hear you, what’s up?” he asked, weirdly nervous for some reason.

“Well I was bored as shit, what’s up with you Mr. Totally Not Acting Suspicious At All?” he asked, and for some reason he was more concerned with whatever was making Angus act weird than he was with whatever book he was trying to hide.

“Um, it’s just- it’s nothing,” Angus said. Taako didn’t know if he should drop it, but if Angus wanted to talk about he would eventually.

“Alright then, you busy?” he asked, and Angus seemed relieved for the change of subject.

“I’m not busy, did you want to do something?” he asked, starting to sound excited again. Taako let himself forget about the book and shrug lazily, leaning further into the back of the couch.  
  
“Eh, I don’t know. I heard there was some holiday coming up? I don’t think we had it back on home plane,” he said, and Angus definitely perked up at that. Alright cool, so he wasn’t totally uninterested in it.

“Oh right! I hadn’t realized Pumpkin-Daze was so close,” he said, and Taako wondered if he’d been waiting for someone else to bring it up.

“Yeah, the fuck’s it about? Krav has just been complaining about having to deal with a bunch of would be necromancers this time a year,” Taako asked, pretty successfully sounding nonchalant if you asked him. He knew a few things about the holiday, but it wouldn’t hurt to get the kid’s impression of it.

“Well it started out as a festival to bring in the fall harvest and to ward off a harsh incoming winter. It’s uh, there are lots of different versions of how it started and a lot of different people celebrate it their own ways,” Angus started, and Taako rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t ask for a history lesson pumpkin, tell me what you want to do,” he said. Angus giggled some at that, and Taako raised an eyebrow in question.

“Sorry, it’s just, pumpkin. Pumpkin-Daze,” he said, grinning. Taako huffed and grabbed his hat, throwing it on Angus’s head and mostly using it to block his face.

“Fucking awful, you’ve been spending way too much time with Barry,” he said. Angus was laughing, and after failing to push Taako’s hat away grabbed the brim and moved to the other side of the couch out of reach.

“This is mine now,” he said triumphantly.

“And that’s how we know you’ve been spending just the  _ right amount _ of time with me,” Taako said, nodding sagely. Angus snorted at that but didn’t argue. “So, like I was saying, how do  _ you _ want to celebrate it?” he asked, and Angus seemed to think the question over, tapping one of the gems Taako had hanging from the brim of his hat as he did.

“I mean, there’s usually some cooking. Lots of stuff with pumpkins, given the name. Pies and cookies and things,” he began to explain, and Taako nodded along. “Uh, we wear costumes too, like at midsummer, but these are like, supposed to be spooky? They don’t  _ have _ to be but that’s what it usually is,” he added.

“Alright, sounds like some good starts. We can discuss specifics on the way to the store,” he said, and Angus beamed at that.

“Okay uncle Taako, I’ll go get my shoes,” he said, quickly running back towards his room.

“Hey, give me back my fucking hat!” Taako called after him.

“No I already said it’s mine now!” Angus yelled back. Taako scoffed but hey, no one was in the room to see him smiling. Angus came back after a minute, his shoes on and Taako’s hat no longer on his head. Instead he had one of his owns, and Taako figured he’d have to go digging through the kid’s room later to actually get it back.

“So, what kinda pumpkin shit you want? We just going traditional with pies and junk?” he asked as they started off to the store. There was a good grocery store a few blocks down from their house, since that was one of the things Taako had demanded and Lup had agreed on.

“Sounds good to me, I like pie,” Angus said, walking alongside him. It didn’t take long to get to the store, and thankfully it seemed like there was still a decent amount of supplies despite the fact that they were cutting it close to Pumpkin-Daze. A couple homemade pies and maybe some cookies wouldn’t be too hard to manage.

“So, you said something about spooky costumes too?” Taako asked as they started to gather up ingredients. Angus looked a little sheepish at that but nodded.

“Oh yeah, it’s something mostly little kids do I guess? You dress up and go around to people’s houses and they give you candy. Oh, we should get some candy in case anyone comes by our house,” Angus said. Taako nodded, thinking that over some.

“Eh, we’re probably too close to Pumpkin-daze to make the candy ourselves huh? Yeah, I guess we can cut corners and actually buy some junk this year, but I gotta teach you how to make candy sometime. It’s a whole other fucking ballgame,” Taako said. He should’ve said something about this to Angus sooner so they could’ve made candy, but he supposed that was a thing they could do for Candlenights or something.

“We’ll probably be pretty busy baking so that’s a good idea,” Angus agreed. Taako figured they could get it all done if Lup was here to help, but those were the downsides to doing surprises and shit.

“So, what about a costume?” Taako asked, debating between two types of flour.

“Oh, I wasn’t sure if I was going to wear one this year,” Angus said dismissively and Taako scoffed at that. “I mean, it just seemed like it might be a little kid thing,” he added. It didn’t surprise Taako but he also wasn’t having any of that bullshit.

“We all dressed up for midsummer. I mean, not last year, last year we were kinda busy with the end of the world, but the year before that. Don’t see why we can’t do costumes for this one,” he said.

“Are you going to dress up uncle Taako?” Angus asked, and Taako hummed like he was thinking it over.

“I mean, I’ll probably think of something. Hey, you’ve never seen my judge Lance Ito costume right?” he asked, and Angus frowned but shook his head.,

“No, I haven’t. Why do you have a costume of fabled folk hero High Paladin Lance Ito?” he asked, but Taako waved the question away.

“Not important. Back on task, what do you want to be?” he asked, directing the conversation back to Angus’s costume. He seemed to be genuinely thinking the question over now at least.

“I mean, I guess I could do something with some illusion magic to get a neat costume,” he said. They’d reached the candy isle now and Taako paused in his inspection of the different types of chocolates to shake his head.

“Oh nope, we’re going no magic on this one. Old school up in here,” he said. Angus pouted, throwing a bag of fantasy smarties into the cart (and of fucking  _ course _ Angus would like fantasy smarties, the stuff Taako had to put up with for this family. They even got some of that nasty licorice Kravitz liked).

“Why can’t we use magic?” he asked. They definitely had more candy than they’d actually need now, but it wasn’t like you could have too much candy.

“I just said, we’re doing this old school,” Taako explained like it was obvious.

“You’ve never even celebrated Pumpkin-Daze before though, why do we need to do old school?” Angus asked.

“Uh,  _ because _ I never celebrated it before, duh. Gotta get that authentic Pumpkin-Daze experience,” he said as they headed up to the register. The store was a bit busier than usual, probably because of the holiday, but they were able to get through the line without too much trouble. Angus was pretty quiet the whole time, seeming to be thinking the costume question over.

“Um, well I guess if you won’t let me do any magic,” Angus started once they were out of the store. Taako chuckled some at the fake pouting Angus was doing over not being allowed to use magic, but didn’t interrupt. “I mean, it’s usually like, spooky stuff, you know? Do you think, um, do you think the others would find it funny if I went as a reaper?” he asked, sounding kind of nervous about the idea. Taako was grinning widely though.

“Holy shit Ango, that is the best fucking idea you could have come up with. Yes, okay, we’re doing this. Just for that I’m letting you keep that hat from earlier. Let’s get home so we can start on these pies and get cracking on that costume,” he said. Angus seemed to be getting more excited about the idea with Taako’s approval.

“I appreciate the gesture uncle Taako, but I already said it was mine anyway,” Angus said, and Taako wasn’t able to keep himself from laughing at that. Kid was such a fucking brat. It was a wonder how he never managed to realize they were related even with the voidfish in the way.

They did start with the baking when they got home, because that shit was time sensitive. Plus, they could work on the costume during the breaks in the cooking when there was nothing to do but wait.

Angus had gotten a lot better at cooking in the time they’d all been officially living together and shit. He’d never been terrible at it besides from the occasional missing ingredient, but he could hold his own in the kitchen pretty well now. Competent enough to probably beat Barold in a cook off if they set the two against each other.

So prepping the pies went pretty easily. Taako let Angus take care of the filling while he worked on the dough, and Taako would declare it downright delectable.

“Alright, we got a bit of time to kill while they’re in the oven. Let’s get started on that costume,” he said, dusting off his apron some. The reaper cloaks were black after all, didn’t want to get them covered in flour before they even finished making the thing.

“Didn’t we want to make cookies too?” Angus asked, and Taako nodded.

“We can start the cookies when the pies are done. They’re gonna have to cool anyway so shit should all be ready to eat around the same time,” Taako said. That seemed to satisfy Angus enough, the boy taking off his own smaller apron and following Taako out of the kitchen.

“So um, how are we going to make everything? We didn’t think to stop and buy fabric before coming home,” Angus asked.

“We don’t need fabric pumpkin,” Taako said, heading straight to Barry and Lup’s room. It was locked, so he cast knock. It was still locked, so Taako ran through a couple different disspell magic incantations before finally one worked and they could get inside.

“They’re gonna realize we broke in later,” Angus pointed out, but Taako waved him away.

“It’s fine, it’s for a good cause,” he said, making a beeline for the closet. It was a fucking mess in there like he expected, but it didn’t take too long for him to find what he was looking for. With a flourish he threw the cloak, he was pretty sure it was Barry’s spare, around Angus’s shoulders, hooking the little bird skull clasp afterwords.

Angus looked down at himself, holding his arms out for a moment before letting both them and the cloak flop back into place. Then he looked back up at Taako with an unimpressed stare.

“It’s a little big,” he said bluntly, which was fair. Kid was practically swimming in the thing. Taako grinned before pulling his wand back out again and casting reduce on the cloak. It quickly shrunk to a much more manageable size and Taako reached up and pulled the hood up for good measure.

“How’s that do ya?” he asked smugly. Angus crossed his arms, and it was clear he was trying real hard to put a stern look on his face, but a smile kept cracking through.

“You  _ said _ no magic Taako,” he said, and Taako shrugged.

“No illusion magic, conjuring is also off the table. Transmutation is always allowed in this household though,” he said simply. Angus didn’t look like he was buying that much, but started inspecting the cloak some more instead of calling him out on him. After a moment a grin spread across his face.

“In that case can I have a real scythe shrunk dow-”

“No,” Taako cut him off before he could finish that sentence. Angus pouted but didn’t argue when Taako started shuffling him back out of Lup and Barry’s room. He didn’t  _ know _ if they got spare scythes, but he’d rather Angus not go checking.

“So should we just do the cloak? It might not be obvious without anything else,” Angus said, which was a good point.

“If you wanna make yourself a skele-mask or something go hog wild. I’m pretty sure we got some poster board in the closet if you want to get artsy with it,” he said. Angus seemed to think it over before nodding in agreement.

“A mask is a good idea, a skull shouldn’t be too hard to make. It’s already face shaped,” he said, which was real fucking fair. Taako had never done much arts and crafts but he doubted they could fuck up a skull too badly. “I still think it would make sense if I had a scythe too though,” Angus added.

“Not a real one,” Taako repeated, but the kid was right, a reaper costume wouldn’t be complete without it. “Okay, I’ll go look and see if we got like, an old wrapping paper roll in the basement or something. You get started on the mask, oh and take the pies out if the timer beeps before I get back,” he said, Angus nodding attentively at each command.

Taako wasn’t sure how they managed to accumulate so much  _ stuff _ in the short amount of time they’d been living here, but oh boy they sure had. It took longer than he would’ve liked, but eventually he managed to find a wrapping paper roll with like half an inch of wrapping left hanging on. Taako tore it off and threw the crumpled bit of paper somewhere deeper into the basement. He also found a flap of a cardboard back that had somehow gotten torn off that he was pretty sure they could cut into the shape of a blade. So all in all a pretty successful search.

“I found some shit!” Taako called as he made his way back up the stairs and towards the dining room. Angus was sitting at the table, poster board and some string and markers set out in front of him. The pies were sitting out on the counter, so he guessed Angus managed to take care of that too.

“Uncle Taako what do you think?” Angus asked as soon as he was fully in the room. He held up a skull he cut out of the poster board, two large dark eye sockets drawn in black marker, with little eye holes in the center of them. He’d also drawn a couple of nose holes, and it looked like he’d began stringing a black ribbon on one side so they could tie in thing onto him later.

“Fucking stellar my dude. Wouldn’t be able to pick you out of a lineup of reapers,” he said, dropping the junk he’d gotten out of the basement down on the table. “Think you can make a scythe outta this?” he asked. Angus looked the bits of cardboard over before nodding.

“That shouldn’t be hard. Here, can you color the tube black for me while I finish up with the mask uncle Taako?” Angus asked, handing him a marker.

“Hell yeah,” Taako said, taking the marker and starting to color the tube. Angus quickly finished tying the ribbons onto the mask, although Taako had to stop in his coloring to help him put it on. Angus kept it on his face for a few minutes as he started working on the scythes blade before pushing it further up his head so he could see better.

Taako managed to get maybe a third of the wrapper roll colored before he got bored and transmuted the rest. While he was at it he made it a little thinner and more solid too, so that the scythe didn’t end up looking so bulky.

“Uncle Taako, you keep breaking your own rules,” Angus called him out almost immediately.

“I already said transmutation is legal,” Taako argued. Plus, they were his own rules he could change them if he wanted. “Here, you finish up the scythe, I’ll go get started on the cookie dough,” he said. Angus quickly nodded, taking the handle from him.

“Okay, I’ll be done in a minute,” he said, quickening his silver coloring of the blade part.

Taako had managed to get the cookie dough almost completely mixed when Angus came running in with his full costume. Taako was pretty sure the stuff he said earlier about costumes being for little kid had been all talk, because his nephew was fucking beaming.

“I finished it! What do you think?” Angus asked, standing in the center of the kitchen so Taako could get a good look. The blade of the scythe was held onto the handle with tape, but he’d covered most of it with more of that black ribbon, using that to tie in on more securely as well. The robe was still definitely the most authentic thing, since it  _ was  _ the real thing, but the rest of the costume was still cute as shit.

“Look like a genuine reaper to me little man,” he said, Angus’s smile somehow managing to get even wider at that.

“Do you think mom and dad’ll like it?” he asked, seeming a bit more cautious with that question.

“Kiddo they’re gonna  _ die _ when they see you,” Taako said, and Angus snorted at that.

“Was that a pun uncle Taako?” he asked, and Taako shrugged carelessly.

“Probably. Now come help me dole out these cookies,” he said. Angus quickly headed over and started helping him. He had to put the scythe down, leaning it next to him against the counter, but he still kept the mask and robe on. It was real fucking precious, and Taako wondered if maybe he could stop worrying about if he was doing this whole uncle thing right.

After all, he hadn’t even been trying before, and he’d somehow managed to stumble into the role despite that.

Taako was moving a pie to make room for some of the finished cookies when they heard the familiar sound of a rip being torn in the plane.

“Death has arrived!” Lup called as they came through the portal, and Taako could hear Kravitz’s grumbling protest as she did. Angus jumped up from where he’d been sitting at the counter immediately, grabbing his fake scythe as he ran over to them.

“Happy Pumpkin-daze!” Angus called out, Taako echoing along with him as he searched for a place to put the pie down. “Uncle Taako helped me make a costume,” he added. Lup and Barry didn’t even have proper faces on yet and they somehow still both managed to look completely fucking besides themselves with how goddamn cute this scene was.

“Our little flesh boy is a skele-boy!” Lup said, which got a hard snort out of Taako.

“You could not have found a weirder way to say that,” he said, shaking his head. A smile was stubbornly staying on his face though.

“Do you guys like it?” Angus asked, both his parents quickly nodding.

“Of course we do Angus, this is some great work you two’ve done,” Barry said. The two of them proceeded to keep showering Angus in praise, which the kid soaked up like a sponge.

“That was nice of you,” Kravitz said, speaking a little quietly as he walked over to where Taako was in the kitchen. He tried to grab a cookie but Taako slapped his bony hand away.

“Those aren’t done cooling, I haven’t even taken them off the tray yet,” he said, and really a skeleton should not be able to be so emotive. “And anyway, I can be nice,” Taako added.

“I know you can be,” Kravitz assured him. Then he leaned in a little closer, speaking in a low whisper. “By the way, where exactly did you get that cloak? It looks… really official,” he asked, and Taako laughed a little at that.

“Don’t worry your pretty little skull about it,” Taako said. Kravitz didn’t look like it he took it as the most reassuring thing, but he seemed to drop the subject for now.

“So, what’s your costume supposed to be?” he asked instead, giving him a once over for good measure, and Taako just grinned.

“I’m Taako, you know, from TV?” he said, which got a laugh out of Kravitz.

“Uncle Taako that doesn’t count,” Angus called from where he was still over with Lup and Barry.

“Hey, I’m famous as fuck, it totally counts,” Taako argued.

“Don’t worry Ango, we’ll get him into a proper costume,” Lup said. He didn’t doubt that they would be able to either. Taako figured he’d still put up a cursory protest, but he found he really didn’t mind.

Might as well go all the way with the silly holiday traditions. They were kinda fun, and besides, they had a lot of lost time to catch up on. They needed to do this kiddie shit while they still could. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Petalade drew this absolutely _adorable_ [comic](http://petalade.tumblr.com/post/179455933374/was-anyone-else-absolutely-obsessed-with-blupjeans) that inspired this and that everyone needs to check out. i was legally obligated to write a Halloween oneshot based off that comic once i saw it. 
> 
> (also while i'm at it, i haven't promoted my tumblr in a while, you can find me [here](http://kravkalackin.tumblr.com/) if you're interested.)
> 
> as always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed~


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